Tall Coulee Shrub (TC) . The TC h.c. corresponds to the Silver Buffajoberry/ 

 Weste rn Snowberry-Praine R ose c.t. and is dominated by taller shrubs 3 m (10 feet) 

 in height, particularly silver buffaloberry, western serviceberry, chokecnerry and, 

 in coiler Sore mesic situations, red-osier dogwood. Often it supports a diverse 

 and well-developed understory including such low snrubs as western showberry, 

 prairie rose, skunkbrush sumac and silver sagebrush. It is usually associated 

 with deeply cut coulee heads, but is often found along low, shallow coulees or 

 along the edge of dissected benches. 



Low Coul ee Shrub (LC) . The LC h.c. is dominated by low shrubs 1 m (3 feet) 

 or lower in height, usually western snowberry, prairie rose, silver sagebrush, 

 and skunkbush sumac. Always found on the floor of steep - to shallow-walled 

 coulees it of?en is associated with the TC h.c. but lacks the tall shrub overstory. 



Snow berrv-Rose (SR) . The SR h.c. corresponds to the Western Snowberry- 

 Prairie Rose c.t. and is similar in vegetation composition to the LC h.c, out 

 is found in gentle mesic swales, shallow drainages, and along major streams rather 

 than bottoms of steep-walled coulees. 



Big Sagebrus h (BS) . The BS h.c. corresponds to the black sage prairie of 

 Stewart (1975) and to the Big Sagebrush/Western Wheatgrass-Blue Grama c.t but 

 includes only stands with greater than twenty-five percent canopy cover of big 

 sagebrush. It is found mainly on uplands, most frequently along and west of 

 Highway 24. 



Big Sage brush Grassland (BG) . Similar to the BS h.c, but BG h.c is lim- 

 ited to stands having less than twenty-five percent canopy cover of big sagebrush. 



Silver Sagebru sh (SS) . The SS h.c. corresponds to the Silver Sagebrush/ 

 Western Wheatgrass-Blue Grama and Silver Sagebrush/Green Needlegrass - Western 

 Wheatgrass ct.'s, but includes only stands having greater than twenty-five per- 

 cent canopy cover of silver sagebrush. It is found mainly in drainage bottoms 

 in more mesic situations than the big sagebrush h.c.'s. 



Silver S agebrush/Grassland (SG) . The SG h.c. is similar to the SS h.t. but 

 includes only stands having less than twenty-five percent canopy cover of silver 

 sagebrush. 



Riparian Sh rubbery (RS) . Similar to the understory of the CF h c , the RS 

 h c is dominated by tall riparian shrubs up to 3 m (10 feet) in height and in- 

 cludes chokecherry, red-osier dogwood, willow, western serviceberry, western snow- 

 berry, and prairie rose. This h.c. is found only along the Missouri River and 

 major streams. 



Willow (WI) . Dominated by willow usually less than 2 m (6 ft) in height, the 

 WI h.c is restricted to the edges of larger stockponds and creeks. 



Yucc a (YU) . Corresponding to the Yucca c.t., the YU h.c is characterized 

 by scattered plants usually less than one meter (3 feet) in height with a grassy 

 understory dominated by prairie sand reedgrass, little bluestem, thread-leaved 

 sedge, and needle-and-thread. Typically it is found on uplands of moderate 

 slope. 



15 



